Indian climber Satyarup Siddhantha holds a photograph that shows him on Mount Everest, right, along with what he says is an altered version of the same photo used by an Indian couple to make it appear... (Bikas Das)

(Newser)
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Nepal's mountaineering authorities are investigating a climbing claim by an Indian couple who are accused of altering photographs of themselves on the summit of Mount Everest. The country's Department of Tourism chief says authorities are reviewing the Everest climb made by Dinesh Rathod and his wife Tarakeshwari in May. They were issued climber's certificates from the Nepal government after they presented a photograph of themselves on the 29,035-foot summit.

The couple, who are both police officers from Pune in the Indian state of Maharashtra, had also claimed they were the first Indian couple to scale Everest. Fellow climbers, however, say the couple never reached the summit and used someone else's photographs to earn their climbing certificates, the AP reports. Another Indian climber, Satyarup Siddhantha from Bangalore, says it was his photograph that the couple altered to make it appear they were on the summit. If the accusation is found to be true, the couple will lose their certificates and be banned from climbing any mountains in Nepal. (This British ex-soldier abandoned his Everest summit attempt to rescue a stranger.)

Everest has turned into a high rise slum, littered with climbing gear, human feces, and dead bodies. Where is the joy, the honor, in climbing to the top of what has become an overpopulated dung heap? Nepal ought to close the mountain for 20 years, tourist dollars be damned.

dan6807

Jul 5, 2016 3:15 PM CDT

I just got back from a free dive on the Marianas Trench. Had some problems below 25,000 fathoms but I did get the pictures.